Four weeks left to comment on Delta tunnel plan

The public has four weeks remaining to submit comments on Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to build two giant water diversion tunnels in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

June 13 is the deadline to comment on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan and its environmental impact study, which are overseen by the California Department of Water Resources.

The $25 billion project proposes to build three water intakes on the Sacramento River near Courtland. These would feed two 40-foot-diameter tunnels passing 150 feet beneath the Delta to deliver water to existing state and federal canal systems near Tracy.

The goal of the tunnels is, in part, to prevent water diversions from harming fish, which are killed by the millions each year by the current diversion pumps in the south Delta. The three intakes are proposed to be in an area considered less harmful to fish, and will have modern fish screens to exclude wildlife. The location is also thought to be less vulnerable to earthquakes and floods.

The project also calls for 100,000 acres of habitat restoration.

The conservation plan and environment study for the project total more than 30,000 pages. Officials have extended the comment deadline once already to give the public more time to absorb the material.

Comments may be submitted by email to BDCP.Comments@noaa.gov, or by mail to: BDCP Comments; Ryan Wulff, NMFS; 650 Capitol Mall, Suite 5-100; Sacramento 95814. More information, including copies of the studies, is available online at: http://ht.ly/wNtsz.